Fox Biz Needs To Dunk More Babies In Tubs

It looks like fledgling network Fox Business needs to be dunking more babies in tubs, at least if this report from 24/7 Wall St is true (and we think it probably is).

Basically, the network has a problem. Very few people are watching.

In early and mid-2008, first Reuters and then The Washington Post each published estimates of the Fox Business viewership. Reuters put it at “an estimated 6,000 average weekday viewers.”

The Post also offered fairly detailed numbers writing “For the first three weeks of July, according to Nielsen figures obtained yesterday that have not been publicly released, Fox Business Network is averaging just 8,000 viewers during daytime hours, and 20,000 in prime time.”

Based on 24/7 Wall St. conversations with people with knowledge about recent Fox Business viewership figures, including one former executive with the network, audience numbers have hardly budged in since The Post article eleven months ago. Average hourly viewership runs between 2,000 and 8,000 during most hours from 6 AM to 6 PM. The network’s most watched prime-time shows rarely pull more than 15,000 viewers per hour.

An FBN rep denied the numbers to 24/7WallSt, though the company didn’t (per its custom) offer any other numbers. We really want the network to succeed because CNBC needs the competition, and actually they have some good content. FBN gets good guests, and it’s not as much on the green-shoots bandwagon as its larger rival.

But the populist thing that works so well for older brother Fox News isn’t working so hot, and we doubt it will. As we’ve noted before, any traction that they do gain will probably come from Fox News viewers, rather than CNBC’s.

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